Entertainment Center

My parents finally upgraded from their old Sony 27” CRT television to a nice Samsung LCD. That meant that their old conventional TV cabinet was out and they needed a new entertainment center. Naturally, they asked if I would build their new piece. They visited a bunch of stores to get design ideas and after a lot of discussion we settled on a low cabinet design. I was inspired by Troy Sextons American Cabinet. However, my mother preferred flat bracket feet to the ogee bracket feet that ...

Cherry was specified for the piece so we took a drive up to Hearne Hardwoods in Oxford, Pa. They have a fantastic selection of Cherry. I really wanted to get some wide boards for the top and sides. When we got to Hearne they showed my some 12” wide boards that they had that were almost completely clear and just under 12’ long. The problem was that the entertainment center is to be 6’ long so I would be just shy with one board and I wasn’t willing to pay the wide board ...

If I had one machinery purchase to do over again it would be to buy an 8” jointer and instead of a 6” model. My desire to use wider boards on this project led to a lot of time with my hand planes. I planed one face of each board flat and then ran them through my planer to get them to the proper thickness. After laying out the panels I put the mating glue joints up in my face vise and planed them with my trusty Stanley #7. I feel that doing this always gives me a really great glue ...

I got just enough shop time today to finish up the dovetails on the top & sides of the carcass. Just as I was preparing to start cleaning out the waste between the pins the mail man showed up with an early christmas present.
I ordered this sweet dovetail chisel from Czeck Edge while I was at the Woodworking In America conference back in October. It showed up at the perfect time. It worked beautifully to be able to clean out the corners between the tails.
Here you can see the...

Well, it’s taken nine months, but the project is finally complete!
In my last post I had just finished cutting the dovetails for the carcass sides and top.
From there I moved on to cutting the dado’s for the interior panels:
With the joinery all cut for the interior I was ready for a trial fit:
From there I went to work on the doors and the beaded face frame. The bead was milled separately and applied to the inside of the face-frame. The doors are cope ...